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South Africa will investigate the “mysterious” arrival of scores of Palestinians who were kept on a charter plane at Johannesburg for 12 hours by border police because they did not have travel papers, the president has said.
A group of 153 Palestinians arrived at OR Tambo international iarport in Johannesburg on a chartered Global Airways flight from Kenya on Thursday without departure stamps, return tickets or details of accommodation, according to the border authorities.
They said none of the Palestinians had applied for asylum, leading to their initial denial of entry. A pastor who was allowed to meet the passengers while they were stuck on the plane said it was extremely hot and that children were screaming and crying. A humanitarian group intervened to offer accommodation and support and the authorities then cleared 130 members of the group for entry under a standard 90-day visa exemption, while the other 23 had already departed for other destinations. It was not clear where their journey originated. Palestinians in Israeli-blockaded Gaza or the Israeli-occupied West Bank cannot easily go abroad.
“These are people from Gaza who somehow mysteriously were put on a plane that passed by Nairobi and came here,” South Africa’s president, Cyril Ramaphosa, told reporters on Friday. He said the group had been admitted to the country “out of compassion” but that “the details” of their situation would be investigated.
“We obviously need to look at the origins [of the Palestinians’ journey], where it started, the reason why they’ve been brought here.”
Details about how the group left Gaza remain elusive but the Gift of the Givers Foundation, a local nonprofit working in disaster response, said it was the second plane carrying Palestinians to land in South Africa in the last two weeks.
“The Palestinians had no idea where they were bundled off to, only when in Kenya did they realise they were coming to South Africa. Some had visas for Canada, Australia and Malaysia, they were eventually permitted to leave for those countries,” said Imtiaz Sooliman, the chair and founder of Gift of the Givers.
The Palestinian embassy in South Africa said the travel of both groups “was arranged by an unregistered and misleading organisation that exploited the tragic humanitarian conditions of our people in Gaza, deceived families, collected money from them, and facilitated their travel in an irregular and irresponsible manner”.
The pastor who was allowed the plane while it was on the tarmac told the national broadcaster SABC: “When I came on to the plane it was excruciatingly hot. There were lots of children just sweating and screaming and crying.”
The episode has revived debate over South Africa’s approach to the war in Gaza. The country, which hosts the largest Jewish community in sub-Saharan Africa, has largely been supportive of the Palestinian cause and criticised Israel’s war with Hamas. The government filed a case against Israel with the international court of justice in 2023, accusing it of genocide in the Palestinian territory. Civil society movements, inspired by South Africa’s anti-apartheid legacy, actively organise solidarity campaigns, boycotts, and aid efforts for Palestinians.
The prolonged delay on the tarmac has led some South Africans to accuse the government of being slow to act on its proclaimed support. Others see the lack of information about the flights as worrying for national security.
Later on Friday, Leon Schreiber, the home affairs minister, said none of the travellers from Palestine had applied for asylum.
“Once satisfied that the absence of certain elements from their itinerary would not leave them destitute in South Africa in the absence of any asylum claims, the travellers were granted entry into South Africa on the standard 90-day visa exemption, subject to compliance with the standard conditions,” he said.
